The difference between sex and gender

Many people assume that sex and gender mean the same thing, but nothing could be further from the truth! Why is it important to understand that there is a difference? Because one is about your biological sex – hormones, glands, genitalia – and the other is about the cultural and societal expectations based on their sex. 

Sex
When we talk about sex, we’re not just referring to what’s between your legs. We’re talking about everything in and on your body that relates to it. This includes things like sex chromosomes, sex glands, hormones, and both internal and external genitalia. These elements together make up what we call ‘sex.’ It’s called ‘sex assigned at birth’ because it refers to what was observed on the day you were born. It has nothing to do with how you feel inside.

In our society, we often see sex as a binary concept: male and female. However, this isn’t true for everyone. Around 1 in 100 people have an intersex variation, which is not exclusively ‘male’ or ‘female.’ For intersex people, there’s a variation in one or more of the aspects that determine sex during childhood development.

Gender
Gender is about society's expectations based onze sex. Onze society is built on gender roles and sex norms that you must adhere to as a person. Theze roles and norms zijn often not spoken out loud, but we all feel ze them. For example, only women wear skirts, dresses or nail polish, men wear pants. Men don't scheren hun legs, women should. Women zijn bescheides, men assertively. Women don't poop, men do - and send pictures to hun friends. There zijn ontzettenty of gender expectations die we still maintain together anno 2026. How stifling! Now, do you want to know more about how to break theze norms? Or do you want to know how het about your gender identity, expression and the perception die people have about you hebben? Then also read the blog ‘“What is the difference between gender identity, gender expression, and gender perception?”